Newspaper editor in brawl over foreign worker story
by Leong Wee Keat Oct 21, 2009 (Today News Paper article)
SINGAPORE - The meeting between employment agents and the chief editor of an influential Bengali newspaper was supposed to clear the air over yet-to-be published allegations of foreign workers being deceived into coming to work here.
But last Saturday's pow-wow at a Desker Road restaurant turned instead into a brawl. Chairs, plates and cups were "sent flying" during the five-minute incident, according to restaurant owner Mohd Mamun who suffered a bruised knuckle as he tried to mediate. The police were called in.
Mr AKM Mohsin, 45, the editor of Banglar Kantha which has a circulation of 2,000 here, was treated for injuries to his forehead, chin and waist. He has filed a police report and a police spokesman told MediaCorp it was investigating.
Mr Mohsin, a Singapore permanent resident who has been quoted in the local media on foreign worker issues, claimed that employment agent Mohammad Jashim Uddin had arranged the meeting.
The latter arrived with three others, and the group asked him for his notes, alleged Mr Mohsin.
The editor refused, and a fight broke out. One of the men allegedly hit Mr Mohsin's head with a vase. "I cannot help but consider this as an attack on truth-revealing journalism," said Mr Mohsin.
Mr Jashim, a Bangladeshi national, disagreed with Mr Mohsin's version of events.
When asked if he punched Mr Mohsin, Mr Jahsim said: "No. He took the chair to beat me. I talked to him nicely ... He used bad language (on me and my friends) ... Then, my friends also beat him (because he used abusive language). Then they took chairs."
This is not the first time Mr Mohsin, who also freelances for newspapers in Bangladesh, has been beaten up. In December 2005 - six months before his newspaper started - he was attacked by five men; his wallet was left intact.
Mr Mohsin, who declined to be photographed for fear of reprisals, said he would file a magistrate's complaint about Saturday's attack.
Mr Jolovan Wham of migrant worker group Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics, said violence has been used as a tool to get migrant workers to toe the line, but attacks against social workers and journalists are rare, though he himself had such an encounter years ago.
http://www.todayonline.com/Print/Singapore/EDC091021-0000086/Newspaper-editor-in-brawl-over-foreign-worker-story
More Links:
Source: Onlinecitizen Article
"Journalist assaulted for work on foreign workers"
See: http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/10/journalist-assaulted-for-work-on-foreign-workers/
Source: lianainfilms
"J is for Justice... And J is for Journalist ... And Just Go Away"
See: http://www.lianainfilms.com/2009/11/j-is-for-justice-and-journalist-and.html
Source: Onlinecitizen Facebook
"Thugs behaving exactly like thugs"
See: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=155799688963
Joshua's Notes|Notes about Joshua|Joshua's Profile
This happened in Singapore
You see, Moshin is the editor of Bangla Kantha, a newspaper which caters to the Bangladeshi population here in S'pore. He has been doing a courageous job of exposing those employers and agents who exploit and abuse foreign workers.
I wasn't exactly surprised that the crony employers would do such a thing. After all, these are the same people who blatantly work with agents from Bangladesh to con people to part with at least $8000 to come here, and then house them in overcrowded dorms (some were literally housed in cages meant for goods) for a good many months, and then send them home WITHOUT JOBS. These were the same people who would hire repatriation companies - which are really no better that groups of thugs - to intimidate 'troublesome' migrant workers. These were the same kinds of people who would threaten NGO groups working for better rights for migrant workers. After the initial shock of learning about these stories, you kinda harden yourself to the lows some people would stoop to (having witnessed some of them myself).
But what was more surprising was the way the case was dealt with by the police. Read on, and find out for yourself. Better still, pass it on.
Source: TWC2 Newsletter (30th October 2009)
Outspoken Journalist Assaulted
AKM Mohsin will be known to many members who have volunteered on the Cuff Road Project. He is the editor of Banglar Kantha, a Bengali language magazine that circulates among Bangladesh nationals in Singapore. The magazine has included articles that have dealt with issues such as workers being brought to Singapore on the promise of jobs that don't exist, or that re nowhere near as good as the recruiters made them out to be. The role of agents who have profited greatly from these practices has been targeted.
Mohsin was asked to meet some agents who have been annoyed by his reports at a restaurant in Desker Road. Exchanges became heated and four men set upon Mohsin after he refused to hand over notes he had taken of the meeting. He was cut on the head and badly bruised as a result. Fortunately, some workers came to his assistance.
He reported the incident to the police.
TWC2 hasknown Mohsin as a journalist who has stood up for the rights of workers and tried to counter abusive behaviour towards them. He should be able to continue doing so, without facing the threat of violence.
by Leong Wee Keat Oct 21, 2009 (Today News Paper article)
SINGAPORE - The meeting between employment agents and the chief editor of an influential Bengali newspaper was supposed to clear the air over yet-to-be published allegations of foreign workers being deceived into coming to work here.
But last Saturday's pow-wow at a Desker Road restaurant turned instead into a brawl. Chairs, plates and cups were "sent flying" during the five-minute incident, according to restaurant owner Mohd Mamun who suffered a bruised knuckle as he tried to mediate. The police were called in.
Mr AKM Mohsin, 45, the editor of Banglar Kantha which has a circulation of 2,000 here, was treated for injuries to his forehead, chin and waist. He has filed a police report and a police spokesman told MediaCorp it was investigating.
Mr Mohsin, a Singapore permanent resident who has been quoted in the local media on foreign worker issues, claimed that employment agent Mohammad Jashim Uddin had arranged the meeting.
The latter arrived with three others, and the group asked him for his notes, alleged Mr Mohsin.
The editor refused, and a fight broke out. One of the men allegedly hit Mr Mohsin's head with a vase. "I cannot help but consider this as an attack on truth-revealing journalism," said Mr Mohsin.
Mr Jashim, a Bangladeshi national, disagreed with Mr Mohsin's version of events.
When asked if he punched Mr Mohsin, Mr Jahsim said: "No. He took the chair to beat me. I talked to him nicely ... He used bad language (on me and my friends) ... Then, my friends also beat him (because he used abusive language). Then they took chairs."
This is not the first time Mr Mohsin, who also freelances for newspapers in Bangladesh, has been beaten up. In December 2005 - six months before his newspaper started - he was attacked by five men; his wallet was left intact.
Mr Mohsin, who declined to be photographed for fear of reprisals, said he would file a magistrate's complaint about Saturday's attack.
Mr Jolovan Wham of migrant worker group Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics, said violence has been used as a tool to get migrant workers to toe the line, but attacks against social workers and journalists are rare, though he himself had such an encounter years ago.
http://www.todayonline.com/Print/Singapore/EDC091021-0000086/Newspaper-editor-in-brawl-over-foreign-worker-story
More Links:
Source: Onlinecitizen Article
"Journalist assaulted for work on foreign workers"
See: http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/10/journalist-assaulted-for-work-on-foreign-workers/
Source: lianainfilms
"J is for Justice... And J is for Journalist ... And Just Go Away"
See: http://www.lianainfilms.com/2009/11/j-is-for-justice-and-journalist-and.html
Source: Onlinecitizen Facebook
"Thugs behaving exactly like thugs"
See: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=155799688963
Joshua's Notes|Notes about Joshua|Joshua's Profile
This happened in Singapore
I was enjoying my dinner at Mayo Street in Little India last evening, where unknown to me, just five hundred meters away, my friend Mohsin was attacked by cowards who wanted to frighten him out of what he had been doing.
You see, Moshin is the editor of Bangla Kantha, a newspaper which caters to the Bangladeshi population here in S'pore. He has been doing a courageous job of exposing those employers and agents who exploit and abuse foreign workers.
I wasn't exactly surprised that the crony employers would do such a thing. After all, these are the same people who blatantly work with agents from Bangladesh to con people to part with at least $8000 to come here, and then house them in overcrowded dorms (some were literally housed in cages meant for goods) for a good many months, and then send them home WITHOUT JOBS. These were the same people who would hire repatriation companies - which are really no better that groups of thugs - to intimidate 'troublesome' migrant workers. These were the same kinds of people who would threaten NGO groups working for better rights for migrant workers. After the initial shock of learning about these stories, you kinda harden yourself to the lows some people would stoop to (having witnessed some of them myself).
But what was more surprising was the way the case was dealt with by the police. Read on, and find out for yourself. Better still, pass it on.
Source: TWC2 Newsletter (30th October 2009)
Outspoken Journalist Assaulted
AKM Mohsin will be known to many members who have volunteered on the Cuff Road Project. He is the editor of Banglar Kantha, a Bengali language magazine that circulates among Bangladesh nationals in Singapore. The magazine has included articles that have dealt with issues such as workers being brought to Singapore on the promise of jobs that don't exist, or that re nowhere near as good as the recruiters made them out to be. The role of agents who have profited greatly from these practices has been targeted.
Mohsin was asked to meet some agents who have been annoyed by his reports at a restaurant in Desker Road. Exchanges became heated and four men set upon Mohsin after he refused to hand over notes he had taken of the meeting. He was cut on the head and badly bruised as a result. Fortunately, some workers came to his assistance.
He reported the incident to the police.
TWC2 hasknown Mohsin as a journalist who has stood up for the rights of workers and tried to counter abusive behaviour towards them. He should be able to continue doing so, without facing the threat of violence.
BIVASH Magazine meets AKM Mohsin
- a friend in need amongst migrant workers in Singapore -
Singapore is a prosperous country in the South East Asia. As a city state, Singapore is surrounded and consists of nearly sixty big and small islands with plenty of resources and enormous beauty. It makes for an alluring, attractive and pictorial environment.
A lot of Bangladeshis have been living here for a long time. AKM Mohsin is one of them. After undertaking some initial study, he decided to live, stay and work here permanently. He comes from a glorious district named Brahmanbaria of Bangladesh. He lives in a joyful family along with his wife, Angura Rahman, a sitar-artist, and his three daughters Dimitra Meghawaty, Ananta Dayawaty and Anannya Dibawaty.
In his personal life Mr. Mohsin is very generous and bears a very good cultural background. He is working continuously to develop and nourish his traditional Bengali language and culture, respecting other language and cultures of Singapore. He established the ‘Inner Eyes Family Orchestra’, a music organization to implant the love of classical Bengali music in the heart of next generation of Bengali people in the rendezvous of world cultural assimilation in Singapore.
He is the only legend who has established the one and only Bengali print media here totally at his own self effort, facing and challenging several local obstacles. He is the editor-in-chief and publisher of the Bengali news paper, ‘Banglar Kantha’, popularly known as a milestone of Bengali journalism in South East Asia. Besides his livelihood, Mr. Mohsin publishes the Banglar Kantha to picture the sorrows and sufferings of migrant Bangladeshi workers living abroad, like in Singapore and Malaysia. He focuses widely in his works on the struggling lives of migrant workers, the fraudulence of the agents and middle men, and the unjust employers. He also works with non-governments organizations and human rights activists engaged in fighting these misdeeds against miserable workers.
His investigative reports attracted other international mass media like Al Jazeera Television Network, Chanel News Asia, NHK Japan, and he has worked with them in several projects. He participated as an assistant to conduct joint research along with the Singapore National University and the Otago University of New Zealand. He was assaulted by some “frauds” and miscreants while working for his fellow countrymen in Singapore. Consequently the incident was protested by local human rights organizations, journalists and other migrant workers.
Steadily he has become the “own” man of migrant workers. He has become their tested friend, their last shelter. The Bivash correspondent meets this special person at his residence and had a relevant discussion. The interview is depicted below:
Bivash: Mr. Mohsin, you are a journalist. You are editing ‘Banglar Kantha’ in Singapore for the last five years. The newspaper has become so popular to the Bengali spoken people in Singapore. How did you adapt your journalism with local cultural practice? We have freedom in journalism in our country but as a newsman how do you comment on Singapore? I mean, do you adopt any techniques or do you play any hide and seek game while accomplishing your responsibilities?
Mohsin: There is no boundary to journalism. For a competent and passionate journalist adapting a new culture, language and lifestyle are not a big deal. The freedom we enjoyed in journalism in Bangladesh that tends to mal-practice. Only for that reason the dignity of journalists in our country is not acknowleged. There is no bad practice in journalism here. Journos are greatly honored here. And comparing space and time, Singapore has got some limitation in expressing anything discriminately. In that sense, Singapore is liberal in most of the cases.
Bivash: Why did you choose journalism as your profession in abroad?
Mohsin: Like many other Bangladeshis I came to Singapore for a bright future and prosperity. After studying a couple of things I took quite a few jobs for my livelihood. Due to my alternative way of thinking and different outlook on things, I could not cope with those jobs. My creativity always haunted me to do something new. Suddenly I saw something what was really shocking for me. Hundreds of young Bangladeshi people came to Singapore for their better livelihoods but their fates were determined by a group of brokers and frauds. In the end they loose everything. They were lacking a guardian, proper counseling, and exact directions, and lastly they loose their past, present and also their future. They were forced to go back to their home empty handed. There was nobody to listen to them, no spokesperson, and no newspaper of their own language. They failed to communicate to the local authorities since they were weak in a new language. I saw most of the Bangladeshi people, who were living better, remained silent watching other people in suffering. They were running after earning money for themselves and ignoring morality. So I thought that man cannot only be a money making machine. He has something to do for his society, country and countrymen. Who will take the responsibility if everyone runs after money? Someone has to shoulder the responsibity. At last I kept my dream aside, ignoring my so called “brighter future” and engaged myself in knowing their hopes and dreams. From that responsibility I chose journalism and published “Banglar Kantha” as the voice of thousands of countrymen.
Bivash: How local communities are helping to develop Bengali culture? Are you involved in community schedules? I mean, are they ready to assist your projects?
Mohsin: It is quite well known that the existing Bengali community organizations have their limitations and lack proper leadership in this multicultural and multilingual country like Singapore. They could not build an infrastructure to develop and nurture the heritage of Bengali language and culture in three decades. Cultural development does mean something different; it is not mere arranging couple of cultural and musical programs twice or thrice a year. Apart from this, I think that existing two Bengal schools are contributing in their own style. And for me, I want to work seriously with everyone, and in this case I consider lending anyone a helping hand. I love to walk with everyone.
Bivash: In the recession of 2007-08, Singapore took the opportunity to import worker for them. We saw you busy in favor of worker then. At that time local Bengali communities and also Bangladesh Embassy faced lot of sensitive questions from different parts. Would you comment on that?
Mohsin: In those years, blaming the recession, employers of the manpower-importing countries, with the help of native brokers, enjoyed a carnival of festivity in the name of employment and bagged their money unfairly. At that time, thousands of people came to Singapore for employment. It was seen at that time that workers were miserably half paid, half fed and did not get their promised work. If the embassies follow the rules of exporting manpower of the Bangladesh government, they have to verify in-principle approval (IPA), and the employer in person, but in fact they do not do it. Consequently, several employers and immoral agent import extra manpower and push workers into danger. As a conscious journalist, at that period, along with local human rights activists, and with the help of some organizations, we shouldered many things to help the distressed. Everyone is aware of it. With the help of local aid agencies we are still continuing that project of feeding hundreds of migrant workers twice a day. At that time some Bangladeshi people cordially extended their hand to help their countrymen.
And we also observed that watching all these outcries of the distressed, a parliamentarian was uttering, “migrant workers are not the slave of modern times”. Some people were seen busy in collecting money for cultural program as though Nero had been playing flute while Rome was burning! Whilst many of the Singapore parliamentarians used to come and see the distressed workers, no representative from the Bangladesh embassy had the time to at least say hello to those people. Rather they were a little bit too busy in providing protocols to the evicted politicians and businessman during the regime of caretaker government after one eleven.
Bivash: There are complains that Bangladeshi lawyers take the hold of money for compensation of the workers, would you comment on that?
Mohsin: So far I know there are no Bangladeshi lawyers in Singapore. But some local law firms opertate the cases of injury compensation, and they have got a few interpreters. Complaints on grabbing workers’ compensation money and also insurance by those people come to me frequently for long days. I get complains these types sometimes, yes.
Bivash: It is evitable that you do work with local NGOs. Could you inspire those organizations to sort out their focus on the interest of migrant workers, especially ahead the welfare of Bangladeshi workers?
Mohsin: Not only Bangladeshis, the aid agencies extend their hand in the various troubles of migrant workers. I am a volunteer and member of such an organization. Actually it is not difficult to be inspired watching their volume of works for the welfare foreign workers. Anybody can be inspired. I am engaged with their various types of work for a long time now. Banglar Kantha and I, both are working relentlessly working in need of several problems of Bangladeshi workers.
Bivash: What you have achieved so far in your journalist carreer for the protection of Bengali culture and also the interest of migrants?
Mohsin: In a mixed society of multilingual and multicultural country like Singapore there was no Bengali mass media. With my long sustained effort, I am publishing a successful newspaper. Besides I have inspired some workers to write something and an author group has evolved. I have made them conscious involved and engaging in creative work like writing, and they are now confident and have achieved more human qualities. They express their emotions, problems and write own story about living abroad without their family. For a long time in history, we have celebrated International Mother Language Day 2011, establishing a temporary monument in memory of the language martyrs, along with Bangladeshi people from all the tires. I am a social worker, work in depth with local human rights organizations, local and international mass media, listen to people and their problems, try to solve those; these all are my achievements as I consider them.
Bivash: Recently we have come to know that in the heart of Serangoon you have established an institution named ‘Dibashram’ to operate recreation and cultural activities of migrant workers. We know that this institution is your brain child and materialized by your friend and social worker Debbie Fordyce. May we know, where other people are initiating profitable business, making money in many ways, what do you expect in return founding non-profit institutions like this?
Mohsin: As I have said before, if everybody runs after money who will work for the distressed? Dibashram is a long waited dream of mine and also of my collegue Debbie Fordyce. While working long days for the migrant workers we realized that they have no scope for recreation, no room for reading, sports, cultural activity. We have seen that many workers are so creative; they have talents and want interact or socialize at least once a week. They are not mere machines and do not want to rotate like work, food, work and food again. They desire a place for entertainment, which is what is meant to be realized by establishing Dibashram. I know that people are running their lives to maximize profit. But I better go for the welfare of the people rather than account for my profit and loss in life.
Bivash: How do you experience the education system of Singapore as a conscious parent comparing this one with Bangladesh?
Mohsin: Actually, I cannot concentrate on my kids’ education all the time, engaging myself in many other responsibilities like journalism and many other things. But there is a gulf of difference between the education method and management of Singapore and Bangladesh. Power and politics influence the education arena of Bangladesh in ways that cannot even be imagined in Singapore. We cannot think here that education institutions, teaching and even public examinations will be rescheduled due to a strike called for by opposition political parties. There are too much dissimilarity in comparing the competitiveness of teachers, teaching-learning and examination systems of the two countries. So far as I know, there are too many doctorates among the teaching staffs of primary levels. Here teachers are highly dignified which we lack in Bangladesh. I can recall one experience told by my friend from the district of Kushtia that his class teacher sent him to buy cigerette.
Bivash: Thank you for the schedule since we know that you are very busy.
Mohsin: Thank you very much.
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